Plastic Pipes Conference Association # 2023 Lake Buena Vista
Nayib Joussef, Chris Zenthoefer, Sergio Vaccaro
Butt fusion of HDPE pipe has long been shown to be an extremely beneficial process in producing leak-free, monolithic piping systems. Continued growth of the Chilean mining sector has necessitated a substantial increase in polyethylene pipe sizes and wall thicknesses, with diameters well beyond 630 mm up to 2m diameter pipe. The methods to effectively and efficiently move, manipulate and fuse large diameter pipes following rigorous safety standards has further complicated the job site. This case study will show how a Chilean company has implemented new equipment and technologies to plan, construct and monitor their tailing and leachate pipelines construction processes. Taking tracking and traceability further, this company has been leveraging real time data analytics to continuously measure their key performance indicators of productivity, quality, and safety, allowing them to take immediate actions to prevent undesirable events while increasing productivity in a safe and sustainable way. These efforts have also allowed them to reduce their total support equipment and staff on the job site, helping them reach environmental sustainability goals while further improving safety. Through the combination of new equipment and actionable data, this company has demonstrated they can simultaneously increase their pipe diameters, improve all key performance metrics, reduce their environmental footprint, and improve their return on capital investment.
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